Second Chance
by waynej
Summary: Six years post Chosen Dawn and Xander run the US Council of Watchers headquarters in Cleveland. DawnXander.
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Second Chance

Author: Waynej

Email: 

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: All Buffy The Vampire Slayer characters belong to Joss Whedon.

Summary: Six years post Chosen Dawn and Xander run the US Council of Watchers headquarters in Cleveland. Dawn/Xander.

A/N this is a rewritten version of an earlier story I started. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1:

Dawn Summers reclined in her seat on the airplane, which was high above the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between London and Cleveland. She put her head back and thought back on the past six years. Six years ago, the Scoobies and potential slayers fought their final battle against the First Evil and sealed the Hellmouth in the process. During the battle, Willow had performed a spell activating all the potential slayers throughout the world. Sensing how widespread the spell was, the Scoobies split up going around the world to find all the newly activated slayers after spending some time with Angel at the Hyperion Hotel in Los Angeles.

Xander, after the loss of Anya and discovering that his first girlfriend, Cordelia, was in a coma, took off alone to Africa. Willow soon followed Xander's example and took off to Brazil with Kennedy. Giles then left for England to rebuild the Watcher's Council taking Andrew with him as his assistant. Finally, Dawn and Buffy left for Rome where Dawn finished high school and Buffy took a long needed vacation from saving the world on a yearly basis.

For six months Dawn and Buffy got some serious bonding time in and both thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the ancient city. Eventually Buffy found herself a boyfriend, and as usual when that happens, she stopped spending her time with Dawn, which angered the teenager greatly. Things deteriorated even faster when Buffy heard that Angel and Spike both died in a battle in Los Angeles. Buffy found out that Andrew and Giles had known that Spike was back from the dead for nearly a year but had refused to tell her about it. Buffy then kicked Andrew, who had been staying with Buffy and Dawn for a while, out of the apartment and then quit from the council refusing to ever talk with Giles again. Dawn was upset about all of this because it meant an end to the weekly phone calls she had with the other scoobies. Dawn was left with only whatever friendships she could find at her school. Dawn's school social life ended when after a popular boy finally asked her out, he was tossed out of the apartment after making out with Dawn, nobody at school would ever talk with her after that.

After graduating from High School, Dawn enrolled at Oxford where she double majored in Classic Languages and Mythology and was able to spend her weekends with Giles and Willow, who had returned with Kennedy from their slayer finding mission in Brazil. Dawn's familial contact with her friends increased her confidence greatly and she was able to graduate finishing 3rd in her class and was cheered by Giles and Willow. Buffy had failed to attend, which was no big surprise to Dawn.

After graduating, Dawn joined the council where she expected to be assigned a couple of slayers and perform normal watcher duties. She was surprised however, when instead Giles offered her a position of Co-Director in charge of research of the US branch of the council. Dawn was reluctant to accept the position, as it would mean she would have to stop her regular contact with Giles and Willow, until she discovered that the other co-director was Xander.

Dawn hadn't had contact with Xander since Buffy retired which was probably the largest reason for her depression following that event. In the year leading up to the battle with The First, Dawn had become increasingly close to Xander to the point where he had become her best friend. Dawn was especially grateful for the time that Xander had shown her that it was okay to be normal after Dawn found out that she wasn't the Sunnydale potential and that Amanda was instead.

In addition to Dawn's friendship with Xander, there was the issue of Dawn's old crush on him, an old crush that Dawn isn't sure she ever had outgrown. Dawn still misses his often-disheveled wavy hair and how he was always able to make her laugh with his silly jokes.

Dawn noticed that her plane was landing so she braced herself for the landing and then got her bags together. Dawn then carried her carry on luggage with her as she went across the tunnel to the terminal. She moved from the terminal and past security and then got on the escalator leading to luggage pickup and started looking for Xander.

Xander had been waiting for Dawn in the luggage pick up area for a while. The last time he had seen her was shortly after the battle with the First. Xander had lost Anya in that battle so his heart was aching. It got worse when they got to the Hyperion and Xander found out that his first girlfriend, Cordelia, recently went into a coma and was being treated at an evil law firm. Xander was upset that both women who had been his girlfriends were now either dead or as good as dead and was worried about the other women in his life Buffy, Willow, and Dawn whom he had increasingly attached to. To avoid putting "his girls" in trouble, Xander decided to leave at once and go to Africa to find the new slayers.

Xander spent two grueling years in Africa where he found new slayers, and built alliances with several tribes and countries. Giles then asked him to return to the states and start up a new US watcher's council headquarters. Xander eventually caved in to the request and moved to Cleveland and set up shop with Robin Wood and Faith who ran the slayer school, and with Andrew who was the researcher.

After four good years in Cleveland, Andrew got called back to England and Giles informed Xander that Dawn would be taking his place as Co-Director of Research. Xander hadn't been in touch with Dawn since Buffy had quit the Council, but Giles and Willow have kept him up on her progress at Oxford. Xander heard that Dawn's flight was now unloading so he started to look for her by the escalator.

After looking for a few minutes, Xander noticed a very attractive, tall brunette at the bottom of the escalator. Xander was surprised when the brunette saw him and started running towards him ending in a big hug and a kiss on his cheek. "Dawnie?" he asked.

"Yes it's me, Xander, I've missed you soo much." Dawn replied while still hugging the man with the eye patch.

"You've grown a lot since I last saw you." Xander said as he gazed at the beauty before his eye.

"Not much, only about an inch since I last saw you. You were just expecting to see Dawnie, Buffy's little sister instead of Dawn the mature adult. I'm exhausted, do you think we can get my bags and get going, we can get more talking in later."

"Sure thing Dawnster, I think your luggage is coming 3 belts down." Xander replied while pointing at a conveyer belt.

The two old friends walked over to the belt, they waited and as Dawn pointed out a bag as hers, Xander picked it up off the belt and on to the floor beside them. When all of Dawn's bags were accounted for the two exited the airport and headed towards the car.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: A Second Chance

Author: Waynej

Email: PG-13

Disclaimer: All Buffy The Vampire Slayer characters belong to Joss Whedon.

Summary: Six years post Chosen Dawn and Xander run the US Council of Watchers headquarters in Cleveland. Dawn/Xander.

A/N Thanks for all the wonderful reviews.

Chapter 2:

Xander was waiting outside of Watcher's Headquarters for Dawn to come down for her tour. Yesterday He had picked her up from the headquarters. During the night he was troubled by having dreams that he shouldn't be having about Dawn.

Dawn finally emerged from the building wearing tight jeans and a low cut shirt.

"Hey slowpoke, what took you so long?" Xander asked.

"Sorry Xand, this jetlag is killer." Dawn replied.

"Sure thing Dawnster, now we will begin the tour."

"Ok"

"Welcome to Watcher's Headquarters also known as 'Slayer Academy for Girls' we were founded 4 years ago here in this old boarding school. Now let's get inside." Xander said.

The two old friends went though the door and into the large atrium. In front of them was a large staircase with intricate woodwork. Surrounding the atrium was several rooms. Xander headed towards the first room on the left, Dawn followed.

"This is classroom 1, inside is our Chief Slayer Instructor", Xander started saying before being interrupted.

"Hey D, what's up? I haven't seen you in a while. How's B holding up? I haven't seen her in like forever."

"I'm doing fine Faith. I can't tell you how my sister is doing though, I haven't talked with her in years." Dawn addressed the slayer inside the room.

"So anyway, this is our Chief Slayer Instructor Faith Lehane as you already know." Xander interjected into the conversation continuing the tour. "In this room we teach History of the Slayer, Research Skills, Battle Strategies, Working with Your Watcher, and all the normal more traditional school classes needed for High School Graduation. Now we will go to the other classroom."

Xander led Dawn back into the atrium and into the classroom next to the one they just left.

"Here is Classroom 2, inside is our"

"Principal Wood!" Dawn exclaimed interrupting Xander's tour as she runs towards her old High School Principal. She gives him a big hug.

"It's nice seeing you too Dawn." Wood said as the hug ended and he resumed breathing. "Please just don't start every staff meeting like you think you are on "Masterpiece Theater" and we should be fine, that got redundant after a while. And please just call me Robin, you're kind of my boss here."

"Sure thing err Robin, I'll try to remember that."

"What does a man have to do around here to finally finish a tour stop without everyone interrupting it?" Xander asked.

"Sorry Xand, it's just that I haven't seen these people in a long time. I'll try to constrain myself the rest of the tour."

"As I was saying, this is Robin Wood, our Director of Slayer Education. He runs our classes and functions as Principal so we can maintain our accreditation as a high school. Now we will continue the tour." Xander said while entering the atrium.

Dawn followed Xander through the atrium towards the first room along the back wall. As they approached, loud sounds of people hitting punching bags could be heard.

While entering the room Xander said "This is our training room. This is where the slayers have their physical training classes and where the senior slayers and watchers keep up with their skills."

As Dawn entered the training room, she noticed several mats lying on the floor, a few punching bags hanging from the ceiling, and some weapons chests that reminded Dawn of some of the things that Xander had made throughout the years. Dawn saw 2 women that she recognized as Vi and Rona using the punching bags.

"Using the punching bags are Vi and Rona whom I believe you have already met." Xander said.

Xander continued talking about the training room as Dawn further looked at her surroundings. After a few minutes Dawn noticed that Xander was staring at her chest while talking.

"Why don't we continue the tour now." Dawn said with a wink.

"Oh yeah, good idea." Xander said as he returned his attention to his job at hand.

Xander led Dawn back to the atrium and to the room occupying the entire side opposite the classrooms.

Dawn entered the room and uttered a gasp. Inside was the most beautiful library she has ever seen. There were rows after rows of mahogany bookshelves all of them filled with rare books. Dawn recognized some of the books as ones that she had been wanting to read for some time, some written in languages that even she didn't know.

"As you can probably tell, here is our library." Xander said, regaining Dawn's attention from the books on the nearest shelf. "This will be your primary working location as Research Director. You will often be alone in here, but will sometimes be joined by slayers working in their research skills class as well as watchers researching demons they encounter. If you find that you can't find a book you need, Willow and Giles will see if they have it in London and Willow will send you a scan of it by email. Now let's move on again."

Dawn and Xander left the library and headed up the big staircase. After reaching the top they stopped.

"On your left are the slayers living quarters." Xander said as he pointed down a hallway. "On your right is the staff living area."

Dawn looked at the area and noticed a television in one corner of the room and several couches.

"As you know since you slept here last night, this is your room." Xander said while pointing at the first room. "This room is mine, the next is Robin and Faith's, and finally we have Vi and Rona's. This concludes our tour."


	3. Chapter 3

Title: A Second Chance

Author: Waynej

Email: PG-13

Disclaimer: All Buffy The Vampire Slayer characters belong to Joss Whedon.

Summary: Six years post Chosen Dawn and Xander run the US Council of Watchers headquarters in Cleveland. Dawn/Xander.

A/N This chapter was revised to fix problems people had with it. I hope you like the corrections.

Chapter 3:

Two weeks have passed since Dawn went on the tour. Since then Dawn has settled in to her new surrounding and started reacquainting herself with Xander. Now Dawn was about to participate in her first patrol since arriving in Cleveland. A van containing Dawn, Xander, Vi, and Rona had just arrived at a park. Vi and Rona had started their patrol, Xander and Dawn were about to follow them. Xander carrying a battle axe, and Dawn a broad sword.

"What's wrong?" Xander asked Dawn.

"You know, just nervous about patrolling, it's been a while since I've been out."

"Don't worry, you'll be just fine. You were worried about fitting in at the library too and you fit in no problem. It's just like riding a bike." Xander replied trying to reassure Dawn.

Suddenly they heard a loud thud sound piercing through the night.

"That sounds like…"

"Vi and Rona." Dawn said completing Xander's sentence before he had a chance to. "Let's go get them."

Dawn and Xander tightened their grips on their weapons and quickly left following the path that Vi and Rona had taken. They noticed a bush blocking the path and slowed down to go around it. On the ground they found Vi and Rona lying unconscious with blood seeping from the sides of their heads. They looked up and saw a Demon with large curling horns on its forehead. Xander moved ahead holding his axe up high.

"I'll take care of this, get Vi and Rona out of the way." Xander told Dawn.

"It's a Fyarl demon, not too bright. Try to decapitate it. Oh, and make sure it isn't Giles." Dawn replied to Xander while she was already bending down for Vi and Rona.

Dawn slowly dragged the two moaning slayers back to the van slipping a few times in the process. When she finally reached the van, she sat the slayers down against the side. She reached for the cell phone in her pocket and punched in the number for Faith. After a few rings, Faith answered.

"Slayer academy for girls, how may I help you?"

"Faith?" Dawn asked in desperation.

"Oh hey D, how's patrol going?" Faith asked in a calm manner.

"Not well, Vi and Rona ran into a Fyarl demon, they're not smart so it must have caught them by surprise and banged their heads together. They can only be killed by…" Dawn suddenly had a disgusted expression on her face and after a moment returned to the phone. "Oh crap! They can only be killed by something silver. Xander's out there trying to kill it with a non silver axe. He doesn't have a chance! Come quickly, the van's parked near the entrance of the park. Vi and Rona are outside next to it."

Dawn jumped into the van looking desperately for something silver. She finally found a silver dagger; she grabs it and leaves the van. She headed over a hill in an attempt to get to the demon from behind.

Back at the attack scene a confused and hurt Xander was fading fast. He managed to get a few good shots at the demon's head but what he thought were fatal head shots caused only a small amount of damage. He no longer had feeling in his left leg and right arm and had no idea how he was still standing. The demon landed a punch on the side of Xander's head and Xander started falling to the ground. On the way down he noticed somebody jumping on top of the demon and cutting its head off with a silver dagger.

Dawn left the demon she had just killed and hurried over to the unconscious Xander on the ground.

"Xander! Xander!" Dawn screamed as she shook the body of her old friend. Seeing that Xander was out of it, she curled up next to him and broke up crying.

A few minutes later Faith rounded the bush and found Dawn crying over Xander's body.

"This isn't the time to be crying D. We need to get him to the hospital now!"

Dawn started to compose herself and said "Ok, I'll take the feet, you take the body."

Faith and Dawn carried Xander back to the van. They shoved him into the backseat and the now recovering slayers climbed in after them. After closing all the doors, Faith took the wheel and they took off to the nearest hospital.

End of Chapter 3

A/N The next chapter should be longer. It will involve Dawn and Xander talking in the hospital.


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